Industries: Agribusiness - 2010 Latin America Research Team- 1st

The J.P. Morgan duo guided by Debbie Bobovnikova, 31, repeats in first place.

Debbie Bobovnikova & team J.P. Morgan

The buy side says: “Debbie Bobovnikova knows her companies inside and out, backward and forward.”

The J.P. Morgan duo guided by Debbie Bobovnikova, 31, repeats in first place. Clients praise the New York–based analysts for providing timely and comprehensive data releases and for their bold, contrarian views: They “follow companies from different angles, always giving you the macro picture, good information flow and sound calls,” as one money manager puts it.

Among the team’s successful out-of-consensus calls was an August 2009 downgrade from overweight to neutral on Brazilian cotton and soybean producer SLC Agrícola, at R18.77, following a 25 percent run-up in soybean prices over the previous 30 days. The J.P. Morgan analysts believed there would be “no further upside” on soybean prices, and a lack of new land acquisitions put the company at risk of a downward revision in its growth plans.

Through July 2010 the stock tumbled 19.8 percent, to R15.05, nearly mirroring the 19 percent drop in soybean prices and trailing the broad market by 36.2 percentage points.

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